remarkable strength of platform

The platform in question is that of Andy Borowitz, the humorist with a super-successful site and RSS feed – the borowitzreport.com – and the book, which Borowitz edited, is The 50 Funniest American Writers: An Anthology of Humor from Mark Twain to The Onion, published by The Library of America. It actually reached the New York Times bestseller list, an achievement by any measure, and even more of one for a publisher that generally puts out highly regarded editions of classics from Walt Whitman, Willa Cather and Ernest Hemingway, which sell well, but not as well as this recent publication.

This isn’t Borowitz’s first book – his releases include Who Moved My Soap?: The CEO’s Guide to Surviving Prison: The Bernie Madoff Edition, The Republican Playbook and The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers. But this is perhaps his most “traditional” one, coming from a nonprofit publisher devoted to American literary greats. But what Borowitz has, beyond his taste in editing a wide range of American humorists here, is a massively popular website with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, as well as postings that get retweeted constantly, so often that Borowitz has built a tribe of millions who warm to his funny takes on everyday life, from celebrity dunderheads to political nut jobs.

On his site, Borowitz devotes a great deal of space to The 50 Funniest American Writers, and announces the many in-person events he’s lined up to promote it. He’s gotten behind the book he’s edited in such a way that his audience can’t help but embrace it.

I ran into the publisher of Library of America recently, and he told me about The 50 Funniest American Writers, crediting the book’s success to the responsive audience that Borowitz has built for himself thanks to his dynamic online presence. “In publishing, that’s called a platform,” the publisher said with a smile, as if testing this newfound word out.

But it’s true. Building a platform is the best way to ensure making a mark among current and potential readers. Even for a publisher of venerable American authors whose own bestselling days (if ever they had them) are long past. If it can work for American classics, it can work for up-and-coming entrepreneurs and writers like you. All it takes is finding, defining, reaching and communicating with your audience. Thanks to a platform.

And I bought in to what he was saying…hook, line and sinker.

As it turns out, I worked on my doctorate in some pretty impressive company. One classmate became the Deputy Director of the FAA; another the Director of Library Services for all of Los Angeles County. I even attended classes with the Captain of the Palace Guard for Saddam Hussein!

The sad news is, though, that I’ve never actually passed a referral to – or received one from – any of these high-level classmates. That’s right. Even though I founded, while working on my doctorate no less, what turned out to be the world’s largest networking organization, I never did utilize much of the “elite network” I was told I would have for a lifetime.

Why is that? Because even though the degree program certainly delivered the opportunity to meet valuable contacts, it never taught me the skills needed to utilize them. After graduation, we quickly spread out to realize the fruits of our labors, and outside of the classroom, we had no real context in which we could keep in touch.

Telling us that we had a great network, but not giving us the tools on now to capitalize on that network, was like telling someone there is a car out there but not giving him any idea of how to drive it!

In all fairness to my particular program, when I was an entrepreneur getting my graduate degree it was in the early- and mid-80s, and today’s tools – particularly social networking and other online services – weren’t readily available to allow us keep in touch. Today, however, there are a multitude of options to help you maintain the relationships you make while pursuing a college or university degree.

1. Take Advantage of Your School’s Alumni Services Department

Interestingly, colleges and universities have only recently realized this same thing: In order to increase and maintain alumni engagement long after graduation, it is vital to establish the connection with the alumni before they leave and spread out all over the country and around the world. They are doing this by creating networking “affinity” groups and other opportunities to get involved. These efforts help students sustain their relationships with each other and – through this – sustain their connections with their universities.

By remaining active with your alumni organization, you may also have the opportunity to share news about your business that may catch the eye of your fellow graduates. Because I kept my schools updated with what I was doing in business, I was given a full feature article in one undergraduate university I attended, and two features in another!

2. Technical Tools Do Much of the Work For You

With the constant moving around that everyone does today, people are making more contacts than ever…and it’s impossible to keep track of every valuable contact without the use of technical tools. For this reason, it’s vital to set up – and maintain – a database of the people you come in contact with.

In addition to the standard contact databases available in Microsoft Outlook or Apple Contacts, or the more robust contact management systems such as ACT, there are web-based contact storage systems that let you store your contacts in “the cloud.” You can do this in Gmail, MSN Live, Yahoo – or through your account in LinkedIn or Plaxo.  My favorite online system is www.Relate2Profit.com. They have elements that directly relate to someone’s networking efforts.

Don’t forget the amazing capabilities of smart phones to help you store important contact information. For example, there’s a new mobile app available for iPhone and Android phones called Go2Tag. This app literally allows you to create and apply customized “tags” to your contacts, so that you can remember who came from where, and where they’re from: university classmates, those you met at a particular chamber or other networking group, contacts you meet at trade shows…even those you make through church, civic groups, or your kids’ school or sports activities).

3. Online Business and Social Networks

Facebook was started at Harvard University, and now it’s morphed into an international network of people, from students to parents, from entrepreneurs to brands, from friends to families and more. I hear stories all the time about how adults have re-connected with classmates they haven’t seen in years. LinkedIn is the largest “business-only” social network, and you will likely find many of your former classmates on there.

These are just two of the many social networks available for you to connect and keep in contact.

As you can see, there are many tools available today for maintaining contact with former classmates; you decide which work best for you. The main thing is to maintain touch points with these potentially wonderful business contacts. You can’t just pick up the phone and ask for a favor out of the blue 10, 15 or 20 years later!

Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization. His newest book, Networking Like a Pro, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com. Dr. Misner is also the Senior Partner of the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.

One common question is whether businesses should publish full or partial RSS feeds.

In a full feed, RSS readers can read entire articles in their reader without having to click a “Read More” link that takes them to the full article on your blog.

In a partial feed, obviously, only a small part of each article is posted in RSS readers, and readers must finish reading on your blog.

Proponents of partial feeds are concerned that 1) web traffic will be reduced if they publish full feeds, and 2) full feeds make it easier for content thieves to republish their articles.

They also argue that clickbacks to articles on site are instant feedback — you learn which articles resonate more with readers.

Answering the question is a function of whether you want to spread influence or drive web traffic.

Influence Versus Website Traffic

If you want to spread influence, then publish a full RSS feed. Give your best content away, and piles of it. The more the better.

If you want to bring traffic back to your site, go with a partial feed.

But understand this: The influence approach will generate more traffic and market buzz for you in the long-term.

We’re major proponents of full feeds because we understand the power of influence on the web.

Sure, you’ll have a few knuckleheads that will skim your content. Sure, your RSS readers may not come back to your site as often.

But, as the music industry has learned the hard way, trying to control content online is a losing battle anyway. What’s more, you should pray that people start spreading your content.

Sure, you want to be attributed, but most people will give proper attribution. And the people who don’t have lame sites, audiences, and business models, so you don’t need to worry about them.

And so what if RSS readers don’t come to your site? Are you worried about banner ad advertising revenues? Don’t — they’re too paltry to worry about. Unless you’re getting 10,000 hits per month or more, advertising shouldn’t even be on your radar as a viable income stream.

Generate high-quality, relevant content. Get it out into as many venues as possible. Publish the heck out of it.

You’ll develop a reputation as an influencer and it will come back to you exponentially over time.

Recommended Reading:

• “Full Or Partial RSS Feeds — The Great Feed Debate” by Darren Rowse
• “Full Vs. Partial RSS Feeds” on “The Wrong Advices” Blog
• “Why Publish Full RSS Feeds Instead of Partial Summary Feeds” by Amit Agarwal

Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and writer with KGaps Consulting. His firm uses their methodology Hub Mentality to help small businesses generate more leads, sales, and referrals while making their marketing budget more efficient.

Stephen is the co-author of as Hub Mentality: Shifting from Business Transactions to Community Interactions as well as the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

What do you say? “Oh, everything is fine, thanks.”

Your customers are doing the same to you — they’re not telling you what they don’t like about you to your face.

But with the rise of social media, they’re going home and sharing their negative (and positive) experiences with their online connections.

What if you could overhear what your customers were saying about you?

How could that improve your business? What would it highlight that you’re overlooking? How much power would that give you?

Yes, this is possible. It’s called social media monitoring.

Simply put, social media monitoring is using technology tools to identify what people are saying about your company online.

Social Media Monitoring Tools & Resources

Here are a few free and simple ways to do this:

1. Twitter Search

Click here and enter keywords relevant to your business, particularly your company name.

2. Google Alerts

Click here and enter your relevant keywords. Google will email you any time in encounters those keywords online, based on your preferences. (You need a Google account to set this up.)

3. RSS Feeds

Set up a Google Reader (or other RSS reader), then set up RSS feeds from social media sites as generated by searches.

For example, when I search for “KGaps” on Twitter, you’ll notice the RSS icon on the top right. A specific RSS feed is generated for every search.

4. Facebook Page

Set up a Facebook Page for your business, then simply check the wall daily for comments.

Read this introduction to Facebook for business.

5. Free Monitoring Platforms

There are a number of free social media monitoring platforms to take advantage of, such as Addictomatic, Socialmention, and Tweetdeck.

There are also tons of companies who offer social media monitoring services, such as Spiral16, Radian6, and Trackur, but I wouldn’t recommend these for most small businesses; it’s simply unnecessary.

This social media monitoring solutions wiki lists every available tool.

Here are a few more great articles on the subject:

• How to Monitor Your Social Media Presence in 10 Minutes a Day
• 10 Steps for Successful Social Media Monitoring
• The Problem(s) With Social Media Monitoring Technologies

Your Customers are in Charge

Knowing what your customers say about you is vital. It tells you what you’re doing wrong and right and how to improve.

As my business partner and I write in our book, Hub Mentality:

“Not only has power itself changed, but also who controls it has shifted. In the past, it was business that wielded power to achieve its ends. Now, the power lies with customers.

“It is customers who dictate the creation and disposition of information. It is customers who determine not only what things get produced, but also how they get produced (note the rise in social-oriented and environmentally-friendly businesses).

“Customers are firmly planted on the new throne; businesses are their servants. Those that understand and adapt will survive and thrive. Those who don’t will disappear, leaving only a memory.”

Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and writer with KGaps Consulting. His firm uses their methodology Hub Mentality to help small businesses generate more leads, sales, and referrals while making their marketing budget more efficient.

Stephen is the co-author of as Hub Mentality: Shifting from Business Transactions to Community Interactions as well as the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

It’s a fatal mistake in business to try to be all things to all people. Bland mission statements and ads are the result of companies describing solely what they stand for.

“High quality. Fair prices. Honesty. Blah. Blah. Blah.”

If you really want to make a splash and explode your sales, you must also clearly articulate what you’re against, what you don’t do, what you exclude. For example:

• KGaps Consulting: Against sales mentality.
• Atlantic Seafood Market: Against preservatives, additives, pesticides, growth hormones.
• Garrett Gunderson: Against financial myths spread by the traditional financial services industry.
• Thomas Jefferson Education: Against conveyor-belt education.

Yes, a bold stand will offend people and create enemies. But it will also create a loyal tribe from which will flow more word-of-mouth buzz and greater profits.

Not taking a stand against anything is the surest guarantee that no one will care about what you offer. You may not have any enemies, but you won’t have any customers, either.

If you truly have a remarkable product and you articulate that product clearly, by default you will have detractors.

Check out this excellent example from Smart Cars:

Yeah, they’re going to be vilified by their enemies. But their fans will come running.

Taking a bold stance against something builds a tribe. It makes your tribe members want to wear your product like a badge.

The bulk of our purchases are made to define ourselves to the world. Being remarkable with an exclusive stand gives your fans something to rave about because, by doing so, they define themselves.

Plant your flag. Draw your line in the sand. Ruffle some feathers. Stand out in a crowd.

It’s the best way to draw your own crowd.

Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and writer with KGaps Consulting. His firm uses their methodology Hub Mentality to help small businesses generate more leads, sales, and referrals while making their marketing budget more efficient.

Stephen is the co-author of as Hub Mentality: Shifting from Business Transactions to Community Interactions as well as the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

The challenge is that it takes a bit more expertise to build a website that actually persuades your visitors to take meaningful action for your business.

From Custom To CMS

In the early days of web design, you would determine your needs then have someone custom design the entire site from scratch. The proliferation of Content Management Systems (or CMS), including WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal to name a few, has drastically changed this model. We’re raving fans of WordPress.

With a little research and a lot of persistence, anyone can figure out how to set up and operate a CMS. Thousands of themes, or layouts, are available across the web. This means that all you have to do is choose the right layout then customize the color scheme to match your company branding.

For example, you can get free WordPress themes here, or premium themes from StudioPress, iThemes, or WooThemes, among hundreds of other sources. To find themes for specific Content Management Systems, simply do a Google search (i.e. “wordpress” + “themes”, “joomla” + “templates”).

If you find a theme that meets your needs as it is, then all you’ll have to pay for is hosting (assuming you build the site yourself). If you want a custom design but aren’t tech-savvy, you can hire a graphic designer.

Architecture

After you’ve chosen and set up your CMS and theme, the next step is to architect your site. As I detail in this blog article, there are four components of a website: 1) technical programming, 2) graphic design, 3) copywriting, and 4) architecture.

The technical programming is taken care of with your CMS, and you can find designers who work specifically with the CMS of your choice. This leaves text and architecture.

This is where knowledge of personas plays a critical role. You need pages and text to answer the questions asked by each. Specifically, you should have at least the following:

• An “About Us” page describing credentials and competitive advantages for Competitives.
• A “Get Started” page, or something similar, for Spontaneous types. Free downloads also appeal to this persona.
• Pages that detail your products, services, processes, methodologies, and applicable research for Methodicals.
• A “Testimonials” or “Case Studies” page for Humanists. Also include bios of relevant owners, managers, and employees for this persona.

Write your text to answer the questions asked by the personas. Use hyperlinks on relevant words and phrases to direct people to your pages. Make the navigation simple and intuitive. Test it on a number of your friends to find where they experience difficulty or their questions don’t get answered.

Build Your Database

Capturing data from your website visitors is one of your biggest priorities. People may not buy on an initial visit, but if you can gain their trust enough to get at least their name and email address, you can continue serving them and making your case over time.

The trick here is to have a free download, such as an e-book, audio file, or a free trial of something. Your download must be relevant to visitors and valuable enough to draw attention.

You’ll need database management software, such as AWeber, to create web forms and build and manage your database.

Drive Traffic

With your website built, the next step is to drive traffic. Website traffic comes primarily from organic searches, direct referrals, links, and social networking and bookmarking.

To optimize your search engine ranking, there are a number of technical programming elements to take care of. This is one reason why I love WordPress so much — it automatically takes care of all those details for you.

It’s also imperative that you have a blog and post articles frequently. The more you post the more relevant content search engines will find. Furthermore, it increases your chance of people across the web linking back to your site, which search engines love. Read my free e-book, The Beginning Blogger’s Bible, for more information on the benefits of blogging.

Currently, the three most popular social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Set up profiles on each, make friends, then wisely refer people to your website. Social bookmarking sites include Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and others. These allow people to share content. The better your blog content, the better your chances of people linking to you from these sites.

Optimize Over Time

Your website will never be finished. Embrace that fact. As I explain in this article, the key is to always be testing to optimize your site over time.

To test you need to set up analytics. Google offers this free version, which works great for most websites. Set up an account, then input your website address. You will then be given code to insert into the back end of your website, either in the footer or header.

This will track everything from page views to time spent on your site, and hundreds of other variables. Adjust your site and watch what happens to your statistics, then further adjust accordingly.

Review

• You don’t need a custom site; these are expensive and unnecessary. Choose a CMS. WordPress rocks. Choose a good layout that works as it is, or have a graphic designer customize the design.
• Set up your navigation and write your text to cater to the four main personas.
• Use a free download and database management software to build a database.
• Blog, blog, blog. This will drive traffic, generate links, and create trust and credibility, among other benefits.
• Drive traffic through social media.
• Optimize your website over time by using analytics.

Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and writer with KGaps Consulting. His firm uses their methodology Hub Mentality to help small businesses generate more leads, sales, and referrals while making their marketing budget more efficient.

Stephen is the co-author of as Hub Mentality: Shifting from Business Transactions to Community Interactions as well as the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

I’m obsessive about analytic data. I explore the tiniest details to maximize my open, click, and conversion rates.

According to this 2008 report, the average open rate in the industry is 13.2 percent, and the average click rate is 2.73 percent.

The databases I manage average an 85 percent total open rate and a 20 percent click rate.

So how do I do it? By religiously following the rules below:

1. Set Clear Expectations Up Front

On your webforms, make sure people know what they’re signing up for. Tell them how often they’ll receive emails from you and the type of content they can expect.

2. ALWAYS Use Double (or Confirmed) Opt-In

A common debate among online marketers is whether your email marketing database should be single or double opt-in.

With single opt-in, website visitors simply enter their name, email address, and any other data in a web form and they automatically receive their free gifts and are subscribed to your mailing list.

Double opt-in adds another step—people who enter their information on your site receive a confirmation email with a link. They must click that link in their email to confirm their subscription.

Our stance is firm: We use double opt-in in every possible scenario.

There are extremely rare circumstances where we would recommend single opt-in for technical reasons, but they are so rare that they’re not even worth mentioning.

Confirmed opt-in ensures that you can never spam—and no one can ever accuse you of that. It increases your open rates and decreases the likelihood of your emails being caught by spam.

Proponents of the single opt-in method argue that many people don’t actually see the confirmation emails and therefore subscription rates are lower. We see this is a positive—it creates a higher-quality list of people who really want what you have.

Think of it this way: Would you rather have a database of 100,000 people with a 2 percent open rate, or a database of 5,000 people with a 50 percent open rate?

When it comes to email marketing, more names isn’t necessarily better—more people who legitimately want what you have and who stay actively engaged is better.

3. Make it Easy to Unsubscribe

Furthermore, assure people on your webforms that it’s easy to unsubscribe.

Don’t hide this in an effort to prevent people from unsubscribing. That will cause you nothing but trouble.

On many of our databases — including our own — we actually invite people to unsubscribe right at the top of the email.

Why? Two reasons: 1) it prevents people from marking your emails as spam and raising red flags with servers, and 2) it simply makes people feel comfortable with your correspondence.

They’re constantly reminded that they’ve given you permission to send them emails, and they know they can disengage at any point.

4. Deliver High-Quality, Relevant Content

This is your best assurance for high open and click rates.

Reserve your best content for your emails to your database. Don’t waste your database capital on skimpy, generic content that they can get anywhere else.

Spark new insights. Challenge assumptions. Reveal your secrets. Offer in-depth research and analysis. Make them feel like they simply can’t do without your emails.

Specific offers exclusive to your database can also be a good strategy.

5. Find the Right Contact Frequency

No matter how good your content is, if you hit your database too frequently, they may tune out, either because they feel overwhelmed and can’t digest it all, or because they feel they’ve learned everything they can learn from you.

For most of our databases, we find that bi-monthly contact is about right, which includes a monthly newsletter that they expect on the first of every month.

However, if your content is off the charts and you’ve built an extremely engaged following, once a week may be appropriate. Roy H. William’s Monday Morning Memo is a perfect example of this.

6. Guard Your Database Vigilantly

Put simply — if a bit crassly — don’t be a database pimp.

A lot of people get excited about having a large database, and they start opening it up to other people and random offers so they can make more money.

Joint ventures — where you offer other people’s products to your database, or vice versa — can work well and be appropriate, but they can also diminish your brand and erode your social capital.

Be extremely careful about to whom and for what you open your database.

Your database is a golden goose — don’t kill the goose for short-term profits.

Cultivate it as your most valuable asset and you’ll always keep your community engaged, and your open, click-through, and conversion rates will dwarf the statistics.

Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and writer with KGaps Consulting. His firm uses their methodology Hub Mentality to help small businesses generate more leads, sales, and referrals while making their marketing budget more efficient.

Stephen is the co-author of as Hub Mentality: Shifting from Business Transactions to Community Interactions as well as the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a series of posts addressing the ‘About Me’ page on your site or blog.  I got some good feedback from readers sharing that it was helpful.  I also had one really interesting question, that I hadn’t addressed in the posts. “What ‘voice’ should I write my page in?” How I hadn’t addressed that actually baffled me a bit; it seems I was so caught up in the details I forgot about that…oops.

So, to answer the question, it seemed natural to write about it and share with everyone.

Simple: keep it from you.  That’s right, first person.  The ‘About Me or Us’ page is letting your fans know how you are.  Make it right from you.  If you’re a group, keep it light and fun and then have everyone re-write their own bit to be right from them.  Pretend you’re introducing yourself to someone and write as though they are right in front of you.  Keep the details the same as I mention in here.

Just as we preach all over, your audience wants to connect with YOU! Make your page directly from YOU!  Keep it real and tell it real, include your story, your successes, and maybe even your failures.  If you’re looking for an example of a well done page, check out this lovely lady, she’s done it well.

Now, as a caveat, we’ve been overhauling our sites and creating a couple of new ones (which is lots of work). On this site, our ‘About Us’ page sucks. We tried the traditional ‘corporate speak’ and it sounds totally boring.  As a result of this conversation (and others amongst ourselves), we’ll be overhauling the page, and in a week or so you’ll notice some new, more interesting copy.

Hopefully this helps a bit.  When you get around to updating yours, please share.

What your audience wants to know when they visit your ‘About Us’ page is who you are.

It’s simple, who are you, why are you writing or blogging about this topic, why are you an expert in this field, and what jazzes you up.  Check out our speed process for writing an About Us page.  Oh yeah, and it’s always good to put a little bit of your personal quirkiness in, too.  Letting your readers know about you personally allows them to connect with you.  If they connect with you, they are far more eager to see you as the trusted authority on your chosen topic.

I’ve spend some time writing out the process to speed write your ‘About Us’ page.  If you want to complete the task in 45 minutes or so you can check it out here.  (link to the speed writing process page) Make sure that you allow your brilliance and skills to shine on this page.  Don’t be afraid to talk (keeping it real, of course) about your accomplishments and track record that makes you an expert in your field.

Now that I’ve shared the secret sauce to excellent About Us pages, all you have to do is go and write.  When you’ve completed your About Us page on your blog and you’re ready to share with all of us, please leave a comment and link to your newly polished page.

The ‘About Us’ page is one of the most important pages on your blog or website.  Why?  Because it’s the place where your audience can learn about you.  It’s where they’ll connect with you.  The more Real, Raw, & Relevant you can be on this page, the more connected to your audience you’ll be.  In fact, the ‘About Us’ page is almost always the first page that the Humanistic type personalities will visit.

I’m hoping that you’re one of the lucky ones that’s living your soul purpose and are beyond jazzed about what you do for a living.  If that’s the case, then really connecting with your audience should be a piece of cake.  And, being brave enough to be authentic in your ‘About Us’ page is just that much easier when you are living your soul purpose.

There is a simple way to make sure that you’re covering all your bases.  Follow the steps that I laid out in this post.  Beyond the process and details that need to be covered though, you need to make sure you’re really sharing your story.  Why are you doing what you’re doing and what about that jazzes you up?

When writing this important page, please remember to just let yourself flow.  Don’t think and filter what you’re writing – just write.  When you’re done writing and you’ve poured your heart out, edit to make sure you’re telling your story in a way that really shares what you want to share.

In short, make your ‘About Us’ page a work of heart for you.  Share your story, your why, and your soul purpose with an open heart.

If you have really good examples of an ‘About Us’ page, feel free to share with all of us.  Oh, one of my favorites is Mind Valley’s.  Check it out.